On the day of the production, I, unfortunately, was running an HOUR late which is a disgrace, especially as a Floor Manager. So I felt that I did not start on the right note but eventually got the hang of it as soon as we began shooting. Let’s elaborate on that!
How do you think you went in your role?
As Floor Manager, I had the preconceived notions and expectations of what my roles and responsibilities were. As a Floor Manager, you are in charge of keeping the talents and camera operators in check and basically the other roles that are on the floor with you. I would say that the Floor Manager is 3rd in charge, right after the Director’s Assistant. The Floor Manager is the person that relays the message from the control room to the floor and also in charge of keeping everyone conscious of the time management. Here is a visual of what I witnessed during the preparation of set, rehearsal and eventually the live show:
(Taken by me on the 12th of April)
As you are able to see, the talents and the camera operators are all present in the set which means that I am able to lay out my duties as a Floor Manager to the other roles in the studio. These duties consist of:
- Ensuring the set is A-OKAY, no weird props hanging about but also potentially looking out for anything hazardous
- The other studio roles know what it is they have to do (getting the talents in the set on time, ensuring the setting up is done in an efficient yet safe manner)
- Keeping everyone in schedule – this can be done through hand signals and counting down to 10 seconds before going on live
As my own experience as a Floor Manager, I felt that I had to ask Ruth for advice on how I should communicate to the other studio roles. Ruth taught me the universal signal of time-checking. This is done through hand signals where one spins their hand in a circle, either slowly or swiftly, letting everyone be aware of the time remaining. For example, if there is a minute left, you would spin your hand slowly. Once it reaches to 30 seconds, you would start picking up the pace and move your hand faster.
I felt that I operated quite effectively as a Floor Manager because I follow the procedures that any experienced Floor Manager would. I let the talent know of my hand signals and what they meant and I relayed the messages that control room wanted the floor crew to know about. Some realisations I had about this role is that you have to be really clear and concise about relaying your message from the control room to the studio. There were definitely some confusions in the time management – for example, the DA/Director would tell me that there is a minute left until we shoot but then it gets delayed to another minute and so on. These delays are bound to happen and you have to let the crew know in the studio about these delays while remaining calm and stress-free.
Overall, it was an enjoyable position to be in and I have learnt a lot just from this one session in the studio. I definitely see myself doing this role in the future as I gain more experience over time.
What were the successes of the production/How did this lead to a successful production?
I would say that the successes overall was the cooperation with everyone. We all managed to work together despite only preparing everything through the group chat. Some of my favourite aspects of our productions were the graphics:
(Screengrabbed on the 15th of April)
The graphics suited really well to the aesthetics we wanted, which was a show that was 90s-themed. Everything in the 90s was bright and loud and the visual example from above proves how the graphics stuck to the brief.
Our ideas were also well-executed from the questions written by our wonderful writer, Lizzie. A mix of pop culture, film and music, it was relatable to most of the class members and was easy for our talents to digest and answer (they were part of the class, after all). Our host also did a wonderful job of catering to our guests and was clear and concise in the delivery of the questions. She was also quick to adapt to any changes that happened whether it was planned or unplanned.
The graphics and the content overall was what I considered the successes of our production, but most importantly, our teamwork is what made this production run smoothly with minimal stress. If one of us were to absent from the day of shooting, it would not have gone as well as it would have. Our communication between each other was spot on and avoided confusions as much as we could. I am thoroughly content with our work!
What needed improvement for next time?
The essence of technology is nothing technological – it tells us about ourselves, about who we are and what we are. (Scanell, 2013)
I feel that our main point of improvement is technology and cueing. In order to get better at cueing, we need to familiarise ourselves with learning and using the technology in the studio. The quote above is from Week 5’s reading by Scanell. In relation to my group’s studio experience, we let ourselves be known through technology. Being unable to fully use the studio’s tool means that we are not able to reveal our true identity – who we are and what we are. Therefore, improvement in the use of technology ensures that cueing never gets delayed and we are able to show our full capacity as media makers.
In order for this to be improved, more practice and rehearsals are required so that we are able to utilise technology in the way that we want it to operate.
How did you observe the different roles interacting and collaborating?
- Floor Manager to the rest of the crew on the floor
As mentioned before, it is my responsibility as a Floor Manager to relay the message between the control room and studio. Therefore, I had to initiate several interactions and collaborations, mainly with the people on the floor. These roles were the Talents, the Camera Operators and the Producer (Alex was on the floor). My observation of these roles collaborating with each other is just the constant communication and time check with everyone, especially as a Floor Manager. This also included the reassurance of what our roles were supposed to do. We also wanted to make sure that not just the production crew were ready but also the audiences that were part of the show. - Floor Manager –> D.A. and Director
My interaction and collaboration between these two roles was the constant confirmation of the time and also the use of technology in the studio as a whole (including the control room). As audio and graphics were used for our production, I had to make sure that the talent and camera operators were aware whenever an audio was put on for a question. It was prompted in the questions itself but for reassurance, I communicated with the Director whether it was heard in the studio.
Between myself and the other studio roles, this is how we communicated as a group – I would like to say that it was a successful interaction and collaboration which is why our show ran smoothly without any massive mishaps.